1937 - The St. Louis Browns release future Hall of FamerJim Bottomley, who had served the team as first baseman/manager. The move ends the 16-year playing career of Bottomley, who leaves the game with 219 home runs and a .310 batting mark.

1939 - The National Professional Indoor Baseball League, headed by league president Tris Speaker, begins play. The league has 10 clubs, one in each then major-league city except Washington. Alas, it disappears within a month.

Yet another gambling scandal hits the Chinese Professional Baseball League as La New Bears players Ying-Feng Tsai and Chung-You Tsai admit to recruiting teammates to throw games. They return 1 million in New Taiwan dollars in illegal gains and are thrown out of the CPBL. More indictments are expected in the ongoing gambling travails. It is the seventh gambling scandal in the past 15 years in the CPBL and 4th in four years.

The South Korean national team wins the 2010 Asian Games, topping Taiwan, 9 - 3, in the Gold Medal game. Suk-min Yoon tosses five shutout innings of relief and Jung-ho Kang homers twice and drives in five. The South Korean government promised waivers from military service if the team won Gold - while some players had fulfilled their service or had waivers from the 2008 Olympics, Shin-soo Choo and many others have now won themselves exemptions and will avoid mid-career interruptions. In the Bronze Medal game, Japan beats host China, 6 - 2.

The Pirates clean house, releasing three veteran players in one fell swoop - OF Delwyn Young, P Zach Duke and 3B Andy LaRoche. At the same time, the Pirates add five youngsters to their major league roster, illustrating the direction the team intends to take to attempt to end its multi-season losing streak.

CommissionerBud Selig gives final approval to the 12-player trade between the Marlins and Blue Jays first announced on November 13th. "After a thorough examination [...], it is my conclusion that this transaction, involving established Major Leaguers and highly regarded young players and prospects, represents the exercise of plausible baseball judgment on the part of both Clubs, does not violate any express rule of Major League Baseball and does not otherwise warrant the exercise of any of my powers to prevent its completion," Selig says in a written statement.

2014 - Nexen Heroes second baseman Geon-chang Seo wins the KBO MVP, two years after being signed as a free agent who had already been released by one KBO club after one career at-bat. Seo hits .370 with 41 doubles, 17 triples and 48 steals, scoring 135 runs, to lead the league in all those departments except swipes. He also became the first KBO player to rap 200 hits in a year. The KBO Rookie of the Year goes to Min-woo Park of the NC Dinos, who hit .298 and stole 50 bases (second in the league).